The efficient market hypothesis assumes that financial markets fully incorporate all available information, rendering past information irrelevant for predicting future prices. However, numerous studies challenge this notion and suggest the presence of long-term memory in market dynamics. Understanding long-term memory in financial markets has important implications for investors and policymakers. The aim of this study was to empirically investigate long term memory in financial markets. This study employed a Hurst model for a sample of 5 financial markets from June 1, 2018, to June 1, 2023. The findings revealed that four out of the five sampled financial market exhibits long term memory which challenges the efficient market hypothesis concept. Therefore, portfolio managers and active market participants can utilize long-term memory to optimize asset allocation decisions by considering the persistent effects of past returns and adjust portfolio weights to take advantage of potential return predictability and manage risk.
In some parts of the Vhembe District in Limpopo Province of South Africa, vandalism is becoming a serious problem, and solutions are not easy to find. Vandalism has had a variety of negative impacts on livestock farmers. A few studies have studied the concept of vandalism, but studies employing empirical models to determine the factors that are of significance to vandalism are conspicuously rare, if not absent. This paper investigated factors of significance to on-farm infrastructural vandalism in the Musekwa Valley of the Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. The study used a mixed method approach and collected data using a cross-cultural semi structured questionnaire instrument translated from English into the native Tshivenda. Data were collected from fifty-five (n=55) purposively selected primary participants who were interviewed using face to face approach. Additional data were collected through key informant interviews administered on purposively selected key informants (n = 4), focus group discussions were done, and transect walks were employed for observation purposes. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to the data, and the following factors emerged as significant to vandalism: age, gender, education level, ownership of cattle, exposure to information, household expenditure, and reporting of incidents of vandalism to authorities. It is recommended that a community-based approach is adopted to find solutions to the problem of vandalism, to avoid a top-down approach that residents might undermine.
The growth of the cosmetics industry in the world has increased rapidly in recent decades. Cosmetics manufacturers face intense competitive pressure, both from halal cosmetics products and regular cosmetics products. The existence of this intense competition requires companies to be responsive to consumer needs, so companies must ensure that their product offerings are aligned with consumer demand, to encourage consumer adoption. As explanatory quantitative research, the purpose of this research is to figure out the characteristics of muslim women Generasion Z and determine the effect of Religiosity, Halal Label, Eco Label and Halal Green Perception on Customer Loyalty, both directly and indirectly. The object of this research is a Muslim women Generation Z who uses halal green cosmetics in Malang City with a total sampel of 200 respondents.The technique of collecting data using a closed questionnaire and analyzed with SmartPLS 3.0. As a result, religiosity has no significantly influence on customer loyalty, but Halal Label and Eco Label significantly affect customer loyalty. Furthermore, religiosity, halal label and eco label have a directly positive impact on halal green perceptions. It is worth noting that Halal Green Perception also indirectly plays a role by mediating between religiosity, halal label and eco label on customer loyalty. Although religiosity does not play a direct role in influencing Customer Loyalty, it does not mean that these products cannot attract Generation Z's interest. It should be noted that although the level of Religiosity of Generation Z varies, this generation can still choose halal green cosmetics based on considerations of product quality assurance such as halal label and eco label.
Technological development has witnessed tremendous and an increase in business interactions as they execute their daily business. Information technology and broadband are significant drivers of productivity and efficiency growth for small firms as they expand their market. This development has raised growing concerns as it relates to data and information security, infrastructure, and related resources due to an increase in cybersecurity hazards faced by Small to Medium Enterprises globally. In South Africa, although, during the first four months of 2022, cyber-attacks decreased by 13% to account for 419506 internet attacks, this statistic remains high enough for concern. To counter escalating cybersecurity risks, organizations must have a cybersecurity strategy to safeguard their operations, clients, data, and infrastructure. The threat landscape is changing over time, and despite ongoing attempts to strengthen security, they don't appear to be enough to prevent evolving cyberattacks. The study aims to identify cybersecurity threats facing Small to Medium Enterprises in South Africa by reviewing the literature and identifying key Cybersecurity challenges. It also examines the strategies, resources, and techniques used in South Africa to reduce cybersecurity threats. Lastly, the paper recommends adopting a comprehensive Cybersecurity strategy to build future-proof cybersecurity for Small to Medium Enterprises in South Africa.
Attitudinal barriers and discriminatory practices continue to prevent the full participation of learners with disabilities in developmental learning contexts. Although disability has been on the psychological agenda for some time, there is limited empirical evidence on adopting African models to buffer prejudices. This paper addresses this critical gap by examining the experiences of disabled children subjected to prejudices in inclusive settings and the adaptation of the Afrocentric model to buffer those behaviors. The paper was guided by Allport's Social Reflection Theory, which explains why some groups may be targets of prejudice. The exploratory qualitative case study was undertaken in 4 inclusive schools in Gauteng province. Participants were 20 educators and 40 disabled learners in inclusive schools. Purposive sampling was used to choose participants in the study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with educators, and the researcher observed the engagement of the educators and 40 disabled learners. Data collected were analyzed through qualitative thematic data analysis. From the themes that emerged in the findings, the following themes were discussed: advancing the truth in our praxis, fairness, harmony, and humanness. The paper, therefore, recommends that educators apply the practice of including the emerged themes in their learning content for improved grades and low dropout rates. Keywords: Prejudices, Disabled learners, Inclusive settings, Afrocentric inclusion model
This study aims to examine the causes and impacts of unemployment in South Africa using data from the 2022 General Household Survey conducted by STATS SA. Specifically, it seeks to analyze the demographic and socio-economic factors influencing unemployment rates, explore the implications of unemployment on individuals and society, and identify policy implications for addressing this pressing issue. Unemployment remains a significant challenge in South Africa, with persistent high rates that disproportionately affect certain demographic groups. This study addresses the need for an in-depth analysis of unemployment dynamics, providing valuable insights into its causes, consequences, and potential policy interventions. The study utilizes data from the 2022 General Household Survey conducted by STATS SA, encompassing a total population of approximately 18738 households. The dataset offers comprehensive information on employment status, demographic characteristics, education levels, and household income. Employing the statistical software SPSS, employing a combination of descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and a binary logistic regression model, the research uncovers significant disparities across demographic groups, shedding light on the challenges faced by individuals at the household level and advocating for targeted policy interventions. Gender disparities emerge starkly, with female-headed households constituting 44% of the sample yet reporting lower employment rates (34.7%) compared to male-headed households (59.6%). Regression analysis confirms this trend, highlighting the gender-based hurdles in accessing employment opportunities. Furthermore, concerning trends in youth unemployment are revealed, with nearly 40% of individuals under 35 reported as unemployed. Regression analysis demonstrates a negative association between age and unemployment, emphasizing the need for targeted youth employment initiatives. Additionally, the study underscores the critical role of education in enhancing employment prospects, with higher levels of education associated with lower unemployment rates. Racial disparities in unemployment rates are also elucidated, with the Black/African population group facing the highest unemployment rate at 52.3%, significantly higher than the Asian/Indian (37.8%) and White (40.4%) population groups. Regression analysis confirms these disparities, necessitating targeted efforts to address structural barriers and promote racial equity in the labor market. The study recommends, implementing gender-sensitive employment policies, enhancing youth skills development programs, and promoting equitable access to education and training opportunities for all groups.
This study contributes to our understanding of employee behavior in governmental organizations. This paper aims to demonstrate the effects of organizational culture, transformational leadership, and work motivation on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). This paper also aims to conduct a literature evaluation on the OCB of the public sector, using VOSviewer to acquire a visual representation of the research's progress. The VOSviewer for visualizing research progress adds value by providing a clear and intuitive representation of the scholarly landscape. Visualizing connections and clusters among documents can facilitate the identification of key themes and research directions. The study searched the Scopus database using the keywords "organizational citizenship behavior public sector," resulting in the discovery of 85 relevant documents. The study analyzed documents published between 2019 and 2023. Afterward, the study selected 25 documents with the highest rankings as references using Publish or Perish. Supplementary documents were discovered through Google Scholar and Proquest. In comparison to other studies, this research is more diverse in the variables, providing integrated information in the public sector. Consequently, this research remains pertinent. Nevertheless, the amount of study conducted on OCB in the public sector has been limited. Therefore, there is a potential for further investigation in this field. The main findings of the study demonstrate that (i) underscore the relevance of promoting a positive organizational culture, fostering transformational leadership, and enhancing work motivation to encourage OCB among public sector employees and finally (ii) the results of this study indicate that influential factors have a positive impact significantly on the OCB in the public sector.
Kenya has seen a boom in road building during the last couple of years as a result of the government's significant investments in the construction industry to upgrade infrastructure, such as road networks. Road network construction is one of the key pillar of the country long term vision 2030. However, the performance of the road projects has experienced various challenges leaving some roads uncompleted, others poorly done after huge investment of public resources. This study sought to evaluate the influence of financial resources scheduling on the performance of road construction projects in Nairobi Metropolitan, Kenya. The research was based on resource dependence theory. A descriptive design as well as the cross-sectional survey was used. The population of interest for this study consisted of 39 road construction projects being implemented by Kenya Urban Roads Authority and Kenya National Highway Authority within the Nairobi metropolitan area. A semi structured questionnaire was utilized to collect primary data. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study results revealed projects resource scheduling had a positive and significant effect on project performance of road construction projects in Nairobi Metropolitan, Kenya. The study concludes that effective financial resource scheduling enables that organization to manage risk that may occur from changes in the project's outcome. Financial resource scheduling starts from developing the project budget which is a process for allocating administered and departmental funds necessary to build a financial foundation for producing stated project deliverables.
The poultry industry is the fasted growing sub-sector of agriculture in the developing world and this is attributed to several pulling and pushing factors. On the demand side, the issue of urbanisation, income increase and animal protein requirements particularly for chicken has a positive influence on the growth of poultry production. Poultry farming is highly practised in rural households in Lesotho, and it constitutes an important contribution to the development of the rural economy in most developing countries. The poultry industry remains an important sub-sector of agriculture like in many other developing countries and it remains the main source of livelihood for village people and other small-scale farmers in the economy. Many rural communities are keeping poultry as a source of meat and eggs to feed their families, raise income from the surplus and create employment opportunities. However, access to formals markets remains a critical challenge for the farmers. This study examined the socio-economic, market and institutional factors that influenced broiler farmers' market participation and intensity of participation in the Leribe district in Lesotho. A two-stage sampling technique was employed to select 114 respondents from five villages and the survey data was collected through a structured questionnaire. Heckman's two-stage model was used to analyse factors influencing farmers' market participation and the intensity of market participation. Gender, farmer income, storage access, production experience, extension service, credit access and information access were significant and influenced farmers' market participation decisions. The study recommends interventions that will increase access and formal market participation.
This qualitative study aims to assess the value of e-health in rural areas of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The study was meant to appraise the current state of e-health readiness in rural Limpopo areas and identify any barriers to effective health service delivery. Data were collected through interviews with rural health providers from the province. The study defined e-health as an approach in which health services can be provided comprehensively by using information and communication technologies (ICTs) in a more cost-effective, efficient, and quicker way than when manual methods are used. It then established that rural health in Limpopo is deficient and almost dysfunctional because of rural health in Limpopo is deficient and almost dysfunctional because of lacking infrastructure and other problems due to scarcity of resources. Transport and road conditions, as well as a lack of patient transport, made rural health services extremely poor. The study realised that by restructuring the rural health systems in the province, there are ample opportunities to enable e-health mode to rural health service. Therefore, the study recommended restructuring rural health and then introducing it.
The purpose of this article is to clarify the impact of technological, organisational, and environmental contexts in which Artificial Intelligence solutions are implemented by the accounting and audit companies in Europe. The organizational and environmental contexts were not enough studied in accounting and audit field but are becoming more and more important in the future. The applied methodology was based on a structured interview, to which it has answered 62 top financial specialists from 18 European countries, in companies with more than 10 years of experience in the accounting and audit sector. To design the structured interview, it was used the Technology-Organisation-Environment framework. A serious concern for the companies' representatives consists in the lack of specialists capable to understand and work with Artificial Intelligence solutions. One option that is generally preferred by companies is to prepare their employees for these new tasks, rather than hiring qualified persons. There are two methods that can be used when implementing Artificial Intelligence, to buy specific provided solutions from third parties, or to developed them internally. Data storage and security, the complexity of Artificial Intelligence solutions and government regulations do not represent a threat to companies willing to develop this area. The main contribution of this study consists of an extensive analysis of the most important elements of Technology-Organisational-Environmental framework and their applicability for accounting and audit companies, which implemented or are willing to implement Artificial Intelligence solutions.
The retail segment has the largest contribution to the total net sales value of Kimia Farma Group, which is run by the company's subsidiary, PT Kimia Farma Apotek (KFA). Kimia Farma's retail segment is experiencing a relatively non-ideal revenue trend from 2017 to 2022. The main challenges faced are the purchasing power of the community, the increasingly fierce level of competition, and risks related to customer loyalty. Based on this background, this study aims to examine the effect of Kimia Farma's image and product attributes on customer loyalty, both directly and indirectly through customer satisfaction. The research was conducted with a quantitative approach at the Kimia Farma Pharmacy in Bandung, with the unit of observation being Kimia Farma pharmacy customers in Bandung City. The sample was 235 respondents, who were taken using the Multistage Random Sampling technique. Structural Equation Modeling was used to conduct causality analysis. The results revealed that: Kimia Farma's image and product attributes play a role in shaping customer satisfaction, but have no direct impact in creating customer loyalty; customer satisfaction plays a role in creating customer loyalty; customer satisfaction mediates the effect of Kimia Farma's image and product attributes on customer loyalty; product attributes have a greater role than Kimia Farma's image in encouraging customer satisfaction which will create customer loyalty. This research provides managerial benefits for increasing customer loyalty at Kimia Farma Pharmacy in Bandung City, by increasing customer satisfaction, which is supported by the development of product attributes and the image of Kimia Farma.
This study intends to examine the influence of ownership structure and political connections on tax avoidance using the Book Tax Differences (BTD) method. The data used is industrial entities registered on the IDX for the 2018-2022 period. By utilizing the proportional sampling method, the study sample that fulfilled the criteria was only 40 companies so 200 observational data were obtained which were used as the study sample. Panel data regression analysis is the chosen analytical method in this research which includes the Chow test, Hausman test, and hypothesis testing using Eviews as a data analytics tool. The test results imply that (i) government ownership negatively impacts tax avoidance, (ii) institutional ownership positively impacts tax avoidance, (iii) family ownership positively impacts tax avoidance, (iv) foreign ownership shows a non-significant positive impact on tax avoidance, and (v) political connections exhibit a non-significant negative impact on tax avoidance.
This research aims to determine whether a top cosmetic company's Beauty for Better Life Women's Empowerment Program (BFBL – WEP) has encouraged women to become entrepreneurs in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, and identify the various obstacles and challenges they face in navigating their entrepreneurship journey. Launched by the L'Oréal Foundation in 2009 in 27 countries including Indonesia, the BFBL Program believes that a program like this will play a central role in helping vulnerable, underprivileged, or marginalized women regain their self-esteem, develop self-confidence and enhance their well-being. Using a qualitative research design with primary data collected through semi-structured interviews of thirteen (13) female beneficiaries of the Program, the research covered six (6) regions in Indonesia. Additional data was obtained from two (2) more key informants representing the Head of the BFBL Program in L'Oreal Indonesia and a beauty coach. Interviews were done through hybrid methods of offline and online engagements with respondents, enabling reach as well as convenience as the respondents came from different regions across the country. Findings show that the BFBL produces successful women MSME entrepreneurs through a) training in the planning and design of beauty services; b) resource support provides mentoring and coaching, and c) marketing support skills through social media promotion, creating a business portfolio, and learning ethical practices in dealing with clients. Geographical challenges in program implementation as well as logistical capabilities of participants were detected. Implications to organizational practices related to women's entrepreneurship promotion are presented.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the adoption of responsible business practices concerning economic, environmental and social principles, is a tool to develop market value for various stakeholder groups. CSR can create several competitive advantages and should not be seen as a cost, but as a strategic initiative to aid organisations in competing in the market. Effective internal CSR communication to employees enhances an organisation's corporate identity (CI) – ultimately affecting employees' attitudes and behaviour. This paper aims to explore South African retail employees' perceptions of internal CSR communication methods used by their organisations. A dataset of 229 employees participated by completing a computer-aided self-administered survey, which was distributed via LinkedIn. The main findings of the study indicate that employees perceived their organisations to make use of e-mail communication, internal newsletters, web and social media platforms to communicate with them regarding CSR, indicating that other internal communication platforms such as intranet or internal meetings can be utilised more to communicate with employees.